Five Low-Glycemic Smoothie Tips

Five Tips to create Low-Glycemic Smoothies

Smoothies are healthy and they are good for you. I have a smoothie most days and am happy that they are good for my health. The problem though is that not all smoothies are made equal. They can be high in fructose and diabetics especially should make sure that they manage the amount of sugar that they get from their smoothies.

To counter the amount of sugar in my smoothies, I always include lots of vegetables and some protein into my smoothies. But occasionally I feel for a mega fruit smoothie and when I make them, I enjoy them like a treasured snack.

So, if you are a diabetic or even if you are not consider these 5 low-glycemic smoothie tips and how much fructose you add to your smoothie.

Five low-glycemic smoothie tips

Having plenty of protein and healthy fats in a smoothie slows down digestion, allowing the body to absorb carbohydrates at a more moderate rate. You can ratchet up the fat and protein grams of a smoothie by adding goodies such as tofu (it’s tasteless), cottage cheese, plain (unsweetened) yogurt, a high quality protein supplement powder, chia seeds, sunflower seeds, or oats.

Use mostly low-glycemic fruits in your smoothies. The best choices are apples and berries.

Pack your smoothies with less fruit (or no fruit) and use more nutrient rich veggies such as carrots, cucumber, sweet red peppers, and leafy greens.

Add only unsweetened ingredients—those without added sugars such as plain yogurt. If the drink is not sweet enough try tweaking the taste with natural stevia powder or extract. Stevia is an herbal sweetener that does not elevate blood glucose.

Water or unsweetened teas are the best choices for your smoothie’s base liquid. Using fruit juice adds too many calories and carbs. Unsweetened nondairy milks (e.g., almond, coconut) are also options. Low fat dairy milk is a higher calorie choice, but will bulk up the smoothie with more protein and some fat.

How much Fructose

Most people eat about 70 gram of fructose per day, which is 300 percent above the recommended intake. We eat lots of fructose from hidden forms, where we don’t really know what we eat. So it is important to manage our intake of fruit to a maximum of 15 grams per day. To know how many grams of fructose there is in your favorite fruit, check out this table from Dr Richard Johnson.

As an example 1 banana (7.1 gram) and 1 cup of strawberries (3.8 grams) equals 10.9 grams of fructose. The easiest way to make this smoothie healthier is to use half a banana or no banana at all.

Conclusion

If you are diabetic, you can still enjoy smoothies. Just be careful with what you add into your smoothie and always be aware of how much fructose is in your smoothie.

Your Turn

What do you think? Please share your low-glycemic smoothie tips with us…

Categories

Disclosure

Some links on this site may lead directly or indirectly to affiliate offers including the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

The owner of this site may receive compensation if a purchase is made using an affiliate link from this site.

The owner of this site does not make any guarantee concerning these offers and all offers should be viewed as recommendations only.